Levelland ISD opens two new school facilities

The openings come almost three years after voters approved a $22 million bond to build a new early childhood development center and a new middle school.

"It was definitely a community effort," said John Booth, Levelland Independent School District superintendent.

Levelland Middle School will immediately house seventh- and eighth-grade students. In September, it will house students from sixth through eighth grades.

The Academic Beginnings Center, known as ABC, will host pre-K and kindergarten programs.

D. Lance Lunsford / Staff

Two new school facilities were recently completed in the Levelland school district. One facility is the Academic Beginnings Center and the other is a new middle school, pictured here.

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Putting community expectations to work on both facilities meant thinking outside the traditional education institution box, Booth said. The facilities were designed after developers consulted with teachers and community members for their input before moving forward with construction.

"We went out to the schools and let teachers have input. The community came back and said we want buildings that say we have higher expectations," Booth said.

The resulting designs include advanced technology in the middle school and a seamless movement of students from home to classroom in the ABC.

"The ABC, it's a totally different school, but just as progressive. It was designed specifically for 4- and 5-year-old students," Booth said. "You don't want children to go from the home to an institution. You want them to come to a really fun place."

Mark Holcomb, Levelland ISD deputy superintendent, said when the school district's existing facilities were evaluated for upgrades several years ago, a cost analysis showed it would be just as expensive to improve the facilities as it would to build new ones.

The middle school had been upgraded little by little over time, Holcomb said. But having been built in the 1930s, there was only so much that could be done to update electrical and other systems.

"You would have had to spend about as much money to fix it up as to build a new structure," Holcomb said.

Today, the city of Levelland is growing as other rural West Texas towns see their populations diminish.

A population study released by the city of Levelland in December showed the town is growing.

The Levelland study showed a population of 14,223 - up 10 percent from the 2000 census.

"Levelland is a community on the move and this study reinforces what the citizens of Levelland already knew," Dave Quinn, director of Economic Development for Levelland, said in the report.